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The anime 'Monste'r is rightfully acclaimed for being a masterpiece in Anime history. Watching Monster was a bit of a pilgrimage for me. I use the word 'pilgrimage' in a metaphorical sense. Lately, I have been increasingly jaded towards the recent developments of the Anime industry as it has been quite a while since they have produced a work of great merit. These sentiments lead me to the following questions: What is the point of all of this? Am I wasting time? Am I being escapist? What is the opportunity cost that I pay for watching Anime? So, I decided to direct my fading interest ... towards 'Monster', and here's what I thought of it.

Story (9/10):
(While this is not a summary, it may contain spoilers)
'Monster' is a story that can be treated from many different angles. It can be given the superficial look of an age old good vs. evil tale or it can be interpreted as being Faustian (this harmonizes with many of the characters feelings on how the main antagonist is a devil-like character) or treated as something like the Maltese Falcon, a detective story that shows the grisly reality of an investigator's job.
In any case, 'Monster' captures the local culture of many of the presented settings with surprising fluency. From mannerisms to even food, Germany and the Czech Republic are given an amazing degree of attention to detail. This is further bolstered by the art, but that comes later.
What is most fascinating about 'Monster' is the investigative side of it. I often hear how this is similiar to the anime 'Death Note' and frankly, I think they are very different.
'Monster' uses different perspectives and their individual discoveries to eventually lead to a conclusion. Dr. Tenma (the primary protagonist) is not the only one getting the information and making connections. The multitude of cases embroil a large cast of characters who all provide to its eventual resolution...even then many mysteries remain unsolved.
The story is one that is multifaceted. Ranging from topics of historical significance (the Berlin Wall, East Germany, Neo-Nazis etc.) to those concerning familial relationships, the story of 'Monster' is a unique brew that I have yet to taste even outside anime. Although, I must say some aspects are similiar to the movie Citizen Kane...or perhaps its just me.

Art (9/10):
There is a difference between art and animation, so I'll speak of them separately.
The art of 'Monster' is interesting. This is in the sense that it can be some of the most simplistic yet attain a level of detail close to that of photorealism.
The characters are designed, interestingly enough, like ordinary people. There is almost no beautification of the characters. The facial features seem simple enough (somewhat reminiscent of Osamu Tezuka, are the two authors related?) and yet they are able to warp in response to many possible emotions.
The scenery is the real deal. They are depicted beautifully with no architectural flaws, when it comes to buildings. The use of perspective is noticeable in many cases, giving the settings depth and a sense of reality. The use of lighting and contrast is amazingly effective and changes in accord to the tone of the scene.
The animation is almost equally a spectacle. What surprised was the consistency of the animation throughout the series, which is rather long, by my standards anyway. The character movement is natural and there are few repetitions of sequences (except in flashbacks, which this anime is full of). Where the animation fails is in the action sequences. This is understandable as 'Monster' is largely devoid of action-packed plot (this is not an adaptation of some infamous shonen battle manga). Nonetheless, this is a well done area of the series.

Sound (7/10):
Alright, I have difficulty with reviewing the sound of an anime because it has a good deal of focus on the vocals, which I don't give too much stock to. If this were a production featuring, say Yoko Kanno, then perhaps I would actively watch out for soundtracks. So, consider this part of the bias of the score.
For its length, I was surprised that the same OP was used. The OP "Grain" is a fitting piece to the tone of the anime. The two ED pieces, however, somehow didn't work with the flow.
As for the rest of the soundtrack, there weren't many that stood out as being exceptional. Due to the length of the series, one will become familiar with the pieces and the appropriate situations where they are used.
As for vocals, I mentioned earlier my lack of attention to them. Yet, in comparison to all other anime I watched, the vocals were quite good. I particularly liked Runge's rather stoic tone and Dr. Tenma's, particularly how it subtly changes during the course of the story.

Character (10/10):
The strongest aspect of the series are its characters. Monster has a large cast of characters if one should include all the secondary characters. I find it particularly intriguing how humane a large number of the characters are. By humane, I mean how closely they reflect different walks of life from which they come from.
This brings me to the contrasting point, which is the main antagonist, Johan. Johan is perhaps one of the more unique villains I have encountered in anime. The anime does an excellent job of documenting his interaction and influence to the plot. Johan at times doesn't seem to be a villain at all, yet there's always this unpleasant feeling that can at times truly terrify you and make you question: What on earth is he?
Character development is a key aspect to consider when evaluating the characters. While, yes, the characters do change it is interesting to notice how they change and what ethical implications now apply. A lot of the time, it feels that it is the role rather than the character that is developing.
Another particularly interesting part of this is how the two main characters, Johan and Tenma, affect the secondary characters around them as they do their respective deeds. There are times where if one thinks deeply about these interactions, the implications can be almost harrowing or even enlightening.
The characters are definitely worthy of praise as many are unique and all have a feeling of humanity that makes them worth more than just being plot devices coordinated by the author to get the plot moving.

Enjoyment (8/10):
Monster is the type of anime that grabs you and doesn't let you go for a long time. The riveting storyline and the case of colorful characters will place you in the world of Monster almost as if you are one of them. By the end of it, even the most superficial of us may want to think and consider the chilling possibility that people like Johan may just exist (they probably do).
The length is daunting, so there is nothing like a summer vacation to finish it. The plot is clearly presented so there is not much of chance of getting lost in it. It is in many ways a good investment of your time.
However, the clarity of the plot can work against it. Perhaps it is a bad habit of mine, but I have the tendency of solving the cases before they are even solved on the television screen. You may also feel that the plot is unnecessarily redundant at times in leading the clues to the incident and appropriate suspect. On the overall, I enjoyed the series very much and it easily surpassed many other anime that I held in high regard.

So, back to the deal with 'Monster' and my jaded nature. While Monster did rekindle my faith in the possible excellence of the anime medium, it did not rekindle it to the point where I could trust the Anime industry once again. I feel that Monster is an appropriate end to my anime career as I have learned quite a few lessons from it. Lessons that even real life experiences can't teach. Anyway, thank you for reading and hope you enjoy the anime as much as I did. It is truly an experience to be reckoned with.

Right, this is my second review. I'll try to control myself on length this time. Take note that I'll update the review at the end of the series. Additionally, no summary will be provided. This anime's main page has a brilliant one already. So, off we go.

Story (8/10):
The story extremely interesting in the sense that it evolves from small incidents to macrosmic effects. In the first few episodes, one couldn't really tell where the story was going, who the main characters were and just what was going to happen next. However, slowly, but surely the dam broke and plot flowed to swamp us. We are ... placed in an out of Japan setting with the familiar plot of demons rising to attack humanity, but suddenly we can't be sure whether that's all there is to it. I look forward to seeing it grow as the recent episodes seem to hold an extremely promising future for this series.

Art (7/10):
I never really like Gonzo's animation. Sure its pretty, but somehow there are some times you wish it didn't do that. The artwork of Blassreiter is clear. The settings are quite well done, living up to standards of being set in a small German town. The Demoniacs, however, really don't fit to my taste. The designs look good, until they're in action. Well, most of the protagonist designs look good (Examples include Gerd and Joseph) But,(spoiler) Malek's demoniac armor looks really....ugh...at times (end of spoiler). Nevertheless, the action scenes are generally well done, if a bit confused. Most of you'll enjoy it, but don't expect Last Exile or Gankutsuou level animation or artwork.

Sound (6/10):
Perhaps the weakest point in the series. Both OP and ED are really good, particularly the ED (first time, I ever downloaded an anime ending of Gendou). However, the soundtrack in between isn't really significant. You're usually too engrossed in the storyline to even notice the sound. Vocal acting meets most of the standards of the series, but ain't to my taste. It might be to yours, though.

Character (10/10):
This series's characters are hands down one of the most realistic and powerfully depicted personalities this season. You may think I'm lying, but I'm not. You will learn to HATE Jill Hoffman. You will feel Malek's pain even though you may not have lost someone close to you. You may find yourself questioning Gerd's intentions and wondering just who the hell Beatrice is. Development of characters is rapid, but also realistic. There personalities may not be thoroughly distinct, but you will find that they may be like one of you: A sister in confusion about her brother's actions or a disillusioned man trying revive his hero's faith or a lone wolf watching from afar, living day by day for revenge. Sounds far fetched, but see for yourself.

Enjoyment (8/10):
Blassreiter managed to keep me awake until 3 am (where I'm living anyway) every Saturday or Sunday, just to get a chance to see a new episode. I am enjoying the series quite a bit. It beats your general run-of-the-mill shonen that gets over 200 episodes, but barely achieves anything in that time a million times over. It's sad that this must end at 24 episodes, but then again, maybe its one of those animes that have to end there. Those are generally the good ones.

Overall (8/10):
Whew, I thought this was going to short. I'm glad if you've read this far. My advice to you is, don't look at the top anime score. That's what people thought when they watched the first couple episodes. This is a heavily underrated series and I hope that this review convinces you to watch it too. Thank you for reading.

Readers please keep in mind that I'm writing this strictly on the anime itself. I tend to stay well away from mecha anime, but this has been a sort of introduction into the series for me. So, I think this review would suit people best if this is the first Gundam show they are going to watch.

Summary: Gundam 00 takes place some centuries into the future on the A.D. calender. It takes place within our solar system, but mainly on Earth until the latter episodes of the series kicks in which are all set in space. The world has split into three main powers: the ... Union (consisting of North and South American countries), the AEU (consisting of Europe, the Middle East, I think Africa is part of it too) and HRL (consisting of Asia and Russia). The world exists in a delicate balance as these powers play a zero-sum game where all of their armaments must to limited to ensure that they have no advantage over the other two powers. However, as mentioned before, this is a very delicate balance and if it was broken in anyway, it would cause the entire world to go into a state of chaos (well, eventually anyway). A mysterious group called Celestial Being step in and make a stand by saying that they will intervene in conflict situations and resolve them through violent means to ensure that they don't drag out for long periods of time (since prolonged periods of conflict end up causing more casualties and loss of resources). They use a type of advanced weapon by the name of GUNDAM, which are large humanoid robots that are equipped with various types of armaments and generally cause way more destruction than those of the world currently has. The question is, how will the world react to this? Is it a miracle from the heavens? Or is it a threat to the peace and stability mankind has accomplished so far?

Now for the review,
Story (8/10):
I thought the story had its fair points. Many of the conflict situations are similar to the ones in the world today showing that these things will take time to resolve or get worse if we just leave it as it is. The question that the story first poses is, How should peace be approached? Diplomatically (a slow and generally unsuccessful process that is deemed right in this world) or through 3rd party intervention (fast, generally destructive, but in the long term it saves a good deal of casualties and resources?
The story took many different viewpoints to convey the tale. It generally took the view of the protagonists, the Gundam Meisters, but occasionally it took the view of the antagonists, the soldiers from the different powers and even of how it affected the civilians.
The story, however, suffered from unrealistic aspects such as recurring villains, weird foreign policies from some of the nations, and lack of emphasis on certain groups or characters (yeah, I understand this is war with thousands of people, but there were too many characters).

Art (9/10):
This, I believe, was the first High Definition Video Gundam show produced and I believe that this is one of the best animation and art I've ever seen. Fight scenes are fast, but often done in meticulous detail. There isn't much cutting or skipping involved. You can see Exia's blade grinding through the mobile suits as though it is receiving some realistic resistance, while in most anime it would be depicted as cutting straight through with the slash appearing before the blade. The character design wasn't excellent, but it didn't affect the viewing drastically. Emotions were extremely well portrayed during battles. Facial features contorting in rage was a pretty common one and a well done one too.
There were only minor problems with the animation, such as the beams from the false solar furnaces, which looked like they were one ugly solid color, but in general it was excellent.

Sound (8/10):
I don't really give too much stock to voice acting, but in general it wasn't bad. The opening and ending songs chosen for this show were very good, especially the second opening and ending. The soundtrack was mainly varied, having a good combination of energetic, battle music to the quiet themes of the certain characters. Sound effects weren't too shabby either. Explosions and metal clashes sounded almost frighteningly realistic.

Character (7/10):
Possibly the weakest aspect of the show, I'll start with the bad parts of this aspect.
To begin with, there were too many characters and only 26 episodes to do the job. Yeah, I understand there is a second season, but at least some part of the personality and development should go into this. The ending (a bit of a spoiler here) involved a good deal of minor characters for potentially dramatic scenes, however we could not sympathize for their statement or actions all that much because a very meager about of development had occurred. And finally, a lot of personalities were too similar or just too predictable, but that could be excused since this is anime, after all.
The good side was that the emphasis was wrought down almost entirely upon the four main characters. They form a sort of dysfunctional family and each of them goes through phases of doubt and distrust before usually emerging becoming closer to each other. They all have their rights and beliefs and no, they aren't pure, altruistic heroes. They are human, even the annoying bishonen dude with purple hair. Our main characters develops immensely and most importantly, asks questions and make statements that are kind of true, despite how much we wish to deny it. This is what makes this anime sort of different from the usual action anime we see. And yeah, someone pulls off a Shinji Ikari style depression before the end, but it isn't as significant as in Evangelion or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Enjoyment factor (10/10):
I'll say this, you won't be bored. The action, the occasional drama and even the politics will help you enjoy this anime a lot. However, a few of my friends commented upon the fact that this show recycles a lot of elements from previous Gundam shows and in the end, there isn't a terrible lot of concepts or ideas that are new, so it kind of ruins a surprise element for the veteran Gundam viewer.

Phew, that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to next season, but that's only if Code Geass won't capture my heart once again. Thank you for reading.